Major locust swarms may reach Pakistan later this month.

Byline: Baqir Sajjad Syed

ISLAMABAD -- Officials on Thursday warned that the next few weeks could be crucial in the fight against desert locust infestation with major swarms expected to be reaching here later this month from the Horn of Africa.

They are confident that the country is much better prepared to deal with the short-horned grasshoppers, considered as one of the most voracious insects, this time than the last major attack here in 1993, but the shortage of resources could impede the effort to contain the problem.

Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal, while briefing the diplomatic corps at the National Locust Control Centre (NLCC), said the locust problem is likely to peak in the next three to four weeks. 'Next eight weeks between July 15 and Sept 15 would be critical because of monsoon and the government's ongoing commitment with anti-Covid-19 measures.'

Pakistan is on the locust migratory route and has both summer and spring breeding areas. Therefore, it is particularly prone to locust attacks and has over the years suffered several outbreaks. The latest episode here began in June last year following the start of climate change-induced international locust crisis in 2018 from the southern Arabian Peninsula's Empty Quarter bordering Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

This year was expected to be the worst for Pakistan in 27 years because of longer than usual monsoon in 2019 and more rain towards its end due to Indian Ocean Dipole - a sea warming phenomenon. Therefore, because of favourable conditions three generations of breeding occurred. The capacity to deal with the emerging problem too was very low last year.

Meanwhile, the continuing surge in locust numbers in Horn of Africa, Yemen and other countries in the region posed a serious threat of invasion.

It was initially believed that things on the locust front could begin going bad from June. But, so far it hasn't happened.

'We haven't had that number of locusts coming here as we were expecting from June 22 to July 10. Their numbers were far less. And whatever numbers came, most of them have crossed over to India,' Gen Afzal said.

It possibly occurred due to effective control measures, migration of most of the spring bred swarms towards India and relatively dry conditions in southern Iran and southwest Pakistan during June, which caused the vegetation to dry up especially in Balochistan.

NLCC's Deputy Coordinator Maj Gen Saeed Akhtar also...